The overall objective of this young investigator award is to study the psychological and life style determinants of adherence to a low-cholesterol, low-sodium diet in a primary intervention trial designed to prevent atherosclerotic coronary disease in 232 free-living American families. This study involves the longitudinal evaluation of psychological and life style characteristics related to dietary behavior including: stress, cigarette smoking, exercise, somatic complaints, attentional style, coping skills, and nutrition-health attitudes. Long-term dietary changes are assessed by means of biochemical measures (serum lipids, body weight, sodium excretion) and behavioral measures of adherence (e.g., 24-hour dietary recalls). The results of baseline analyses indicated that: (1) high- and low-risk individuals, based on serum lipid levels and body weight were not significantly different in health locus of control, medical symptomology, acute psychological distress, or leisure-time physical exercise, and (2) cigarette smokers were shown to have significantly higher tryglyceride, VLDL-, and LDL-cholesterol levels than nonsmokers. Future studies are planned to clarify the interactions of psychological, life style, and biological factors contributing to dietary adherence and coronary risk.